The exhibition features hundreds of pieces of original graffiti art, as well as photographs of graffiti on subways and buildings, from the collection of Martin Wong - an East Village-based artist and collector.

Credit: Jon Naar/Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Untitled by Keith Haring, 1982

Haring strived to make his work as widely available as possible, granting permission to have his images on everything from t-shirts to posters to buttons, and as a result making his designs internationally recognizable.

Credit: Keith Haring Foundation/Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Various Artists, "Wicked Gary’s Tag Collection," 1970-72

This large work showcases ink-drawn "tags," or signatures used by more than 64 graffiti artists. The work functions as a who’s who of New York graffiti writers, and includes tags by the movement’s pioneers such as PHASE II, COCO 144, and SNAKE I.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Black Book sketch by Dr. Revolt, 1983

Sketchbook drawings illustrated the artists’ process and style. In addition to sketching ideas for large works on subways and buildings, graffiti artists circulated their black books among friends to share drawings and lettering styles with one another.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

"The Death of Graffiti" by LADY PINK, 1982

LADY PINK painted "The Death of Graffiti" just as New York City Mayor Ed Koch and officials of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reinvigorated their campaign to rid the subway system of graffiti.

LADY PINK depicts herself nude on a pile of aerosol spray cans. She points to a "clean train" emerging from the right edge of the painting that signifies the city’s effort to give all of the trains in service a fresh coat of white paint.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Untitled by Sane Smith, 1989

A duo of graffiti-writing brothers – active from the mid- to late 1980s into the 1990s.

The two painted with the Rockin’ It Suckers (RIS) crew, winning respect within the graffiti community by hitting high-profile locations throughout the city in the face of growing anti-graffiti initiatives from the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Koch administration.

The prolific pair entered the annals of graffiti legend in 1988 when they climbed the Manhattan Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge and painted their SANESMITH “throw-up”—a quickly-executed, two-color outline —in five-foot block letters. In the biggest lawsuit to date against graffiti writers, the city sued two men who they identified as the culprits. The case was dropped, however, after the death of one of the men in 1990 and the true identity of SANESMITH has never been officially confirmed.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Untitled by Sharp, 1990

Aaron Goodstone, known as “Sharp,” began writing graffiti as a teenager and achieved international recognition at the age of seventeen, when he exhibited his work at Art Basel.

Credit: AP/Museum of the City of New York

Graffiti art

Black Book sketch by Tracy 168, 1987

Sketchbook drawings illustrated the artists’ process and style. In addition to sketching ideas for large works on subways and buildings, graffiti artists circulated their black books among friends to share drawings and lettering styles with one another.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

"Hotel Amazon" by Daze, 1988

Daze depicts a scene from a school gymnasium turned popular 80s hip hop club Hotel Amazon, a that he was a part of, demonstrating the mixing of cultures in a party atmosphere.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Untitled by Futura 2000, 1982

This Futura 2000 piece was actually part of a construction barricade on scaffolding in the early 1980s on Park Avenue.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Untitled by Futura 2000, 1985

Growing media attention paid to "street art" led to interest from commercial galleries and collectors. As a result, by 1980, several gallery impresarios convinced young artists like FUTURA 2000 to produce works on canvas.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Untitled by Cey Adams, 1983

Cey Adams began painting on buses and trains in the 1970s, by the early 1980s he became enmeshed in the Downtown art scene. He went on to become the Creative Director of Def Jam Recordings, and co-founded the Drawing Board, the label’s in-house visual design firm, where he has created visual identities, album covers, logos, and advertising campaigns for some of the most talented artists of the hip-hop movement.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Black Book sketch by Sharp, 1983

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

"Howard the Duck," by Lee Quiñones, 1988

A vivid oil painting of the artist’s massive handball court mural, created 10 years earlier and since destroyed, at Corlears Junior High School on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Untitled by A-One, 1984

A-One was an expressionistic aerosol artist that created densely layered and colorfully chaotic paintings.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

Untitled by Zephyr, 1984

Zephyr was a key figure in the transition of the writing movement from trains to canvas.

Credit: Courtesy MCNY

Graffiti art

"Sharp Paints a Picture," by Martin Wong, 1997-98

Wong’s paintings reflect the influence of the artist’s friends on his own work. In this painting Wong depicts a shirtless Sharp wearing a respirator while standing in front of his painting.

Credit: Courtesy of the Estate of Martin Wong and P.P.O.W Gallery

Graffiti art

"Redbird (Stay High 149)," photograph by Jon Naar, 1973

Photographer Jon Naar documented New York’s graffiti art movement in 1970s and ’80s including landscape images of graffiti-covered subway trains rumbling through the city. This particular photograph is of a train painted by STAY HIGH 149, a pioneer in the writing movement.